Sjogren's unfamiliar to many

Dr. Paul Donohue Good Health

May 23, 2007|Dr. Paul Donohue

Dear Dr. Donohue: How can 4 million people have Sjogren's syndrome and many physicians, dentists and other professionals not know about it? Why has the average person never even heard of it? Please let people know that this disease exists. -- D.T.

Dear D.T.: Most professionals know Sjogren's (SHOW-grins) disease. Few people are familiar with it because it has a strange name and because many of those who have it keep quiet about it. Furthermore, many who have it don't know they have it.

Sjogren's consists of dry eyes, dry mouth and often arthritis. It happens more to middle-aged women, but it can strike at any age and to either gender.

Mouth and eye dryness usually progress slowly, so at first people pay little attention to either. However, when symptoms are more pronounced, people cannot ignore what's happening. They find it hard to swallow food and to talk. The mouth and tongue burn. Tooth decay becomes rampant. The eyes feel like they have sand in them. They burn or itch. Usually they're red.

About half of Sjogren's patients have arthritis that most often affects the same joints on both sides of the body, and most often those joints are in the hands, the knees or both.

Many other organs and tissues can be involved. A dry cough is a sign of lung involvement.

Sjogren's is an autoimmune disease. The body has lost its ability to distinguish foreign tissue from its own tissue and sets about attacking its own tissues. Lymphocytes -- one of the white blood cells, and one that is involved with immunity -- infiltrate the salivary and tear glands and stop the production of saliva and tears. Artificial tears -- Tearisol, Liquifilm Tears and 0.5 percent methylcellulose -- can keep eyes moistened. A newer eyedrop, Restasis, has proven useful to many. Artificial salivas do the same for the mouth. Numoisyn liquid and lozenges are the newest additions to the list of such products. Pilocarpine (Salagen) and cevimeline (Evoxac) are pills that promote saliva production.

The Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation is dedicated to spreading the word about it and to helping people affected by it. The foundation can be reached on the Internet at www.sjogrens.org or by dialing 800-475-6473.